A RADIO station has made a surprise exit from the airwaves after less than two months of broadcasting full-time.

Chelmsford Calling came off the air on Sunday, February 11, after it began broadcasting regularly every day from 7am to 7pm, in late December last year, on 104.4 FM.

In May 2006, the Office of Communications gave the station the green light for a five-year community radio license, to serve older people in Chelmsford. The broadcaster had applied for the licence in October 2004.

The first transmission of the station "for the mature listener" went out on July 6, 2001, covering a range of roughly three miles around the town.

The radio station received a positive response from local people, who enjoyed the station's mixture of music and comedy from the 1920s to 1950s.

Over the next three years, the station broadcast three more times, in different guises, under a series of restricted service licenses, before applying for the full five-year license.

Chief broadcaster Jim Salmon, confirmed the station had been shut down, but declined to comment on the reasons.